Bombs exploded outside five churches in Baghdad and mortar rounds hit near a hospital and a hotel frequented by foreigners, as US forces loosened a cordon around the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Fallujah after several days of clashes with rebels there.
Meanwhile yesterday, the US military said the deadline for Shiite militiamen to turn in their weapons in the Baghdad district of Sadr City had been extended for two days. Friday had been the deadline for militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to exchange guns for cash under a deal to end weeks of fighting with US troops there.
PHOTO: AFP
Once the handover is complete, the US military will verify that no major weapons caches remain and Iraqi forces will assume responsibility for security in Sadr City. The US hopes the deal will enable them to focus on the more dangerous Sunni Muslim insurgency.
But over the last couple of days their fears have been more immediate: that like last year, insurgents will ratchet up violence in timing with Ramadan, which Iraqi Sunni Muslims and many Shiites began on Friday. Other Iraqi Shiites started fasting yesterday.
In Fallujah, the center of the Sunni insurgency, residents said the Americans had relaxed a cordon they threw up around the city after stepped up air and ground attacks this week against insurgents, including some said to be loyal to the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
US troops were allowing residents to leave the city through the northern exit and people were walking freely about the streets yesterday, residents said.
US jets and artillery had pounded targets in the southern and eastern part of Fallujah around sundown Friday as residents were taking the traditional meal that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan.
One resident, Salah Abd, said American troops had sealed off major roads out of the city, 65km west of Baghdad, preventing residents from leaving.
The attacks began Thursday after peace talks between the Iraqi officials and city leaders broke down over the government's demand that they hand over al-Zarqawi, believed responsible for suicide bombings and beheading foreign hostages.
Also See Story:
Iraqi juvenile center offers a bleak home for inmates
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
RSS